﻿Disabled People and the Covid-19 Pandemic4 min read

﻿Disabled People and the Covid-19 Pandemic4 min read

We are currently coping with the most serious health crisis in living memory. A crisis that will have a disproportionate impact on disabled people. So, what is the government doing to support disabled people?

When researching this topic, I found three main things that
the government is doing to make sure disabled people are being supported.

Firstly, making information readily available
and in different forms. The government has worked hard to make information
readily available and in different forms for the general public as well as
people with disabilities.

The government has also personalised information for disabled
people. However, many disability advocates say that the government
needs to improve and increase how they are providing up to date information to
disabled New Zealanders. They also believe the government needs to “double
down” on providing the disabled community with the tools they
need to ask for help during this time.

Secondly, access to Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for support workers and family members that are caring for a disabled person. This is a serious issue. There are many news stories by support workers and family members that discuss the lack of PPE gear for them. On the 31st of March the Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said that the government was beginning to release large numbers of masks from New Zealand’s national stockpile to DHBs. Then the DHBs could distribute them in their regions to frontline health workers such as support workers.

But in fact, the guidelines that were released by the government following this large distribution of more PPE gear showed that support workers were going to get virtually no PPE gear. As the table below that was released by the Ministry of Health shows.

Because of this some organisations have started supplying their own PPE gear, that goes beyond the minimum standards. For example, CCS Disability Action in Timaru prepared PPE packs for their support workers which contained some informative pamphlets, gloves, and face masks.

Thirdly, to help support disabled people during this time
the government has increased benefits, which came into action on the 1st
of April. The Government also announced an extra $27 million in funding for
essential services.

As a side note this increase to benefit to payments might affect some other payments such as Temporary Additional Support, Accommodation Supplement and Childcare Assistance. But the total amount people get from the government will not be less than what you were getting before the 1st of April.

For couples, and people with dependent children
it is now $63.64 a week

The government has really made some good steps towards
supporting disabled people during this time. Like anything there is certainly
room for improvement, especially in making PPE gear available for support
workers.